Walter e



W. E. DREELAND.

LETTER BOX.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 18. 19:9.

1,326,714. Patented Dec. 30,1919.

INVENTOI? A TTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER E. DREELANI), OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LETTER-BOX.

Application filed June 18, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVALTER E. DREELAND, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in thev county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Letter-Box, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to private letter boxes or the like and has particular reference to certain novel and useful features of construction including the following: first, the provision of means to render it practically impossible for a letter or the like to be pilfered from the box; to provide an enunciator button located in proximity to the admission slot so that the letter carrier when making the deposit of the letter into the box may push it in practically the same motion of his hand; the provision of an unusually large name card with special means to prevent the accidental removal or displacement of the card, and finally to provide a front door or the like for the box which will effectually prevent a view into the interior of the box and so prevent to a more marked degree the attempt on the part of an unauthorized person to remove an letter or parcel therefrom.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line 11 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation; and

Fig. 3 is a partial horizontal section on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, I show a letter box designed to have sufficient depth from front to rear to receive a large size envelop so that the envelop may lie flat in the bottom of the box. The bottom, sides, top, and rear wall are plain and have no peculiarities. The front of the box is peculiar, comprising a portion 10 integral or otherwise rigid with the top, bottom, and side walls.

The front panel is provided with a slot 11 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

Serial No. 304,989.

formed simply by stamping inward a lip portion 12 which as shown plainly in Fig. 1 is inclined inward and downward from the lower edge of the slot where it stands as an integral rigid part of the frontvrall. This lip 12 naturally constitutes a stiffener for the front wall but more particularly serves as a guard beneath which the letter carrier in depositing the mail into the box may, by thrusting his fingers inward through the slot, force the mail downward beneath the lip and so render it practically impossible for a thief to extract the same from the box, especially in view of the fact that he can not see into the lower portion of the box.

The door 13 is hinged preferably at 14: along one vertical side edge of the door opening 15. The door carries a lock 16 key controlled of any well known nature and securing the opposite or free edge of the door.

The door is provided with a large name plate opening 17, large enough to accommodate a card sufficiently large to hold a considerably larger number of names than is usually true. In fact in my experience as letter carrier for a great number of years I have discovered that the vast majority of the letter boxes of the city apartments are so small that it is practically impossible not only to insert the letters but also that they are provided with doors and name plates so small that it is an utter impossibility to apply all the names of the parties that occupy the appurtenant apartments, a fact accounted for largely by the present tend encv to crowd the apartments. The. name card 18 is carried in a box like holder of sheet metal or the like having a rear Wall 19, a closed end 20 adjacent to the hinge portion of the door, closed top and bottom guides 21 and 22 but having the end. remote from the closed end 20 freely open for the admission or removal of the card when the door is open, but which when the door is closed will be guarded by a lug 23 serving the dual function of not only holding the card from movement but also as a stop for the door. The door at this time lies flush with the front wall 10.

I am aware of the fact that it is not new to employ an electrical enunciator button in connection with letter boxes, but I do believe it is new and particularly useful for the button, as at 24:, to be located ad j acent to the admission slot 11 so that when the letter carrier slips a letter through the slot he at the same moment and with the same motion may press the button.

By means of a letter box of the nature set forth herein, having a Wide slot opening and considerable depth, a letter carrier is able to make a quick delivery of mail and at the same time he may avoid the folding of a letter which in many cases damages or destroys its contents, and yet there is observed ample space for a considerable number of letters in the same box and in flat form.

I claim:

In a letter box, a front Wall, a door having a nameplate opening, a name plate pocket of rectangular structure carried by the inner Wall and closed upper and lower flanges at one end, While the opposite end of the pocket is open for the admission or removal of the name plate when the door is open, and a lug fixed to said front wall serving, When the door is closed, as a stop to prevent the removal of the name plate and to prevent the further inward swinging of the door.

WALTER E. DREELAND. 

